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M1 MacBook Air keyboard brightness

How do I off the keyboard illumination? Previously was using the MacBook Pro and there are the F5 and F6 to adjust the brightness or to off the light up. Thanks.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Dec 1, 2020 2:38 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 1, 2021 1:20 AM

Create a new plist file in `~/Library/LaunchAgents` named `com.local.KeyRemapping.plist` and add the following code. Save the file and reboot. F5 and F6 will now work as keyboard brightness up/down keys.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.local.KeyRemapping</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/bin/hidutil</string>
        <string>property</string>
        <string>--set</string>
        <string>{"UserKeyMapping":[
            {
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc": 0xC000000CF,
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst": 0xFF00000009
            },
            {
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc": 0x10000009B,
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst": 0xFF00000008
            }
        ]}</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>
17 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 1, 2021 1:20 AM in response to discoburg

Create a new plist file in `~/Library/LaunchAgents` named `com.local.KeyRemapping.plist` and add the following code. Save the file and reboot. F5 and F6 will now work as keyboard brightness up/down keys.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.local.KeyRemapping</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
        <string>/usr/bin/hidutil</string>
        <string>property</string>
        <string>--set</string>
        <string>{"UserKeyMapping":[
            {
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc": 0xC000000CF,
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst": 0xFF00000009
            },
            {
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingSrc": 0x10000009B,
              "HIDKeyboardModifierMappingDst": 0xFF00000008
            }
        ]}</string>
    </array>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Dec 8, 2020 4:16 PM in response to discoburg

It is a shame that so many people on these forms do not know what they are talking about. if you do not know then say so. rather then trying to answer question in which you do not have the answer. The keyboad brightness on the apple M1 macs is located in the control panel, which you can access easily on the right hand side of the menu on top of the desktop. It is a slider that lets you lower and increase keyboard brightness. It is labled "keyboard Brightness". along with a slider for sound and dispaly brightness and other selections. I like it better than being on the keyboard myself


Jan 30, 2021 10:39 PM in response to GiskardReventlov

This should be the accepted answer.


Apple made the strange decision to move keyboard brightness controls into the control center. The keyboard backlight wouldn't activate even in a dark room, and no setting in System Preferences would change that. Only moving the slider (which was, for whatever reason, slid to the extreme left) turned the light on.

Feb 12, 2021 12:27 AM in response to discoburg

is anyone else curious if there is a way to turn on and off keyboard backlight without having to use the trackpad and manually adjust at the control center. i just wanna press a button. i miss the old keys that offered this option, i feel like there is a way to make this possible, and i'm just not savvy enough ! plz help!

M1 MacBook Air keyboard brightness

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